Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

My children are ages 8, 6, and 3, and honestly, we have not established chores for them. My children have routines.

For example, at meal times, they help set and clear the table. With carpet on our dining room floor, my older two children clear their own place settings while my toddler may take her utensils to the sink.

Though they have some responsibilities, we have not established set chores for them.

Realizing that they need to understand the workings of a home for when they have their own, I would like to teach them one step at a time.

Though I am not ready to have them clean the entire house, I am ready to start because, typically, I clean while they play.

Delegating Chores

During this last cleaning session, my children were begging to help. I’m not sure if they were tired of playing, needed a change of pace, or stuck inside due to all the rain, but I welcomed the help. My son and older daughter worked together to empty all the trash cans into the larger trash bag. I then hauled it out to the trash can.

My son dusted, wiped down the furniture with polish, and vacuumed the kids’ rooms. My daughter picked up the bonus room and cleaned the crayons and marker dots off the furniture and doors using a magic eraser. While my children worked in these rooms, I cleaned our bathrooms.

In working together, we cleaned the upstairs in record time. My children were tired after the constant 3-hour session, but they were so proud of their accomplishment. I also was very proud of them and their willingness to help out.

As I consider turning over some of these responsibilities to them, I know their help will end up being a time-saver for me while developing their skills. In thinking about teaching them to use time wisely while being efficient, thorough, and accurate, I know I need to delegate more responsibilities to them.

Chore Chart Suggestions

If you need to establish, change, or adjust chores for kids, these suggestions may offer a starting point:

• Reader Alyssa finds Kidpoints.com a helpful resource for creating chore charts and monitoring each child’s progress. (Thanks, Alyssa, for sharing!)

• Chuck E. Cheese offers a number of calendars whereby a child can earn 10 tokens:
  • Daily chores
  • Clean room
  • Let’s get dressed

• These character chore charts are free to print and customize as needed.

• This post from Money Saving Mom includes links to 5 different types of chore charts. I love these because some children need a visual and/or tactile reward when completing their task.

In keeping our home clean, I welcome the help of my children. Though I know I can clean quicker and better right now, I must invest my time into teaching my children how to correctly clean to help them with the benefit of saving me future energy and time. Capitalizing on their willingness to help compounded with gratitude and rewards, I am learning to encourage my children to help.

With no official chores in place, we give our children different tasks. As we see them develop and learn how to complete each task, we will slowly delegate those responsibilities. The ball is in my court to using time wisely training my children a way to correctly clean and maintain a task before handing it over. Yikes!

We are laying the groundwork. I know others who have established chores for kids with success. We are not there yet, but thankfully, my children are still young and willing to help. Happy training!

Question: What tips do you have for establishing chores for kids?